He
then says, “What we do with them determines their impact. Our memories are
opportunities to renew our minds to what we know is true. Our memories are
opportunities to rejoice in our own forgiveness. Truly forgiving does not always
entail truly forgetting. If you will renew your mind, painful memories can
become reminders of God’s goodness and grace and healing power in your life.
What were once negative memories can become a source of joy as you experience
the healing power of the Father.” Isn’t
that great?An experience that the Enemy
has set up to hurt us the rest of our life can be turned into an opportunity to
once again see how great God is and how He can make such a difference in our
life.Please don’t waist the
opportunity.Let Go…

A thought by Andy Stanley,
(2009-01-21) from his book, Louder Than Words: The Power of Uncompromised Living(Kindle Locations 2095-2096). The
Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Andy
then says, “Allow yourself to remember the incident. It’s even okay to feel the
emotions those memories elicit. If necessary, be angry but do not sin (see Ephesians 4: 26). But instead of reopening the case against your offender,
instead of rehearsing images of retribution and revenge, use it as an
opportunity to renew your mind.” I’m
not sure who it is that needed this thought today.All I can say is that God loves you and wants
to release you from your past hurts.Go
ahead and face it and then let God help you deal with it through forgiving you
of the part you may have played in it and then forgiving the part that the
other person played in it. How
do you really know that you have truly forgiven them?You know it because when you thin…

And
that is true emotionally and physically.Think about the last time you had some real physical pain.I’m mean you were really hurting.Who were you thinking about? You.And the same is true emotionally. Andy
says, “Emotional pain works the same way. And like physical pain, the more
intense the emotional pain, the more self-centered we become, and
self-centeredness is the archenemy of character. Men and women of character are
committed to putting others first.” But
the Enemy knows how to sidetrack us doesn’t he?I mean I’m in pain.Take care of
me.But the golden rule says, “To do
unto others as you would have others do unto you.”And pain is a way of learning how to minister
to others and to show people how God can make a difference when we are in
pain.But it is really difficult to do
isn’t it? I’ve
been thi…

Now
it does have some benefit to the one being forgiven.I mean it really makes us feel good when
someone shows they care enough to ask us to forgive them for something we did
to them.The gift of forgiveness to
someone is a very meaningful gift but the real gift is to the one doing the
forgiving. As
Andy says, “We have a tendency to view forgiveness as a gift to the one who
offended us— as a benefit to that person.”That is why it is difficult for us to do.We see it as letting them off the hook for
what they did to us. But
he then goes on to say, “For the most part, it’s a gift that was designed for
us. It’s something we give ourselves. Because when you consider everything
that’s at stake, the one who benefits the most from forgiveness is the one…

I
almost did that today.I wasn’t feeling
very inspired and I had a lot of other things getting my attention and I just
about convinced myself to not write a new post.I could wait and write it tomorrow.I just don’t feel like writing today. Do
you ever get to that point?I heard of
this guy who got up on a Sunday morning and told his wife, “You know, I just
don’t feel like going to church today.I
was up late last night and I just feel like staying home.”But his wife brought him back to
reality.She said, “But you are the
Pastor.You can’t stay home.” Maybe
that is the way you feel every Monday.“I just don’t feel like going to work.I think I will just stay home.That is what I really feel like doing?”But you get up and get ready and head in to work because you realize
that feelings are terrible leaders. …

What
tempts you?What is it you want to do
and you have great trouble in not giving in to doing it?Does something come to your mind? Andy
says, “Analyze your temptations. What exactly is the appeal? What is the
promise of sin? What sort of mental gymnastics do you go through to justify it?
Think through the conversations you have with yourself as you talk yourself into
something you know is wrong.” This
is so important.Figure out what the lie
is that is drawing you to the temptation. Back
when Jesus was first starting His ministry Matthew tells us in chapter 4 verses 1-3 (CEB), “Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so
that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and
forty nights, he was starving. The tempter came to him and said, “Since
you are God’s Son, comma…

Andy
uses as an example of a false belief that was controlling the world at the time
of Christopher Columbus that the world was flat.That was a false belief that Columbus
rejected and by that found the New World.And there are many false beliefs that we need to identify and deal with
before we can step out into our new world. As
Andy says, “Every single facet of our behavior is somehow tied back to
something we believe. When you and I believe the wrong thing, it works its way
out in the form of wrong behavior.” Here
are a couple of these he gives, “If you believe happiness is found in the
accumulation of possessions, you’re not going to be very generous. If you
believe that people cannot be trusted, you’re not going to have many close
friends.”But you have your own false
beliefs that control your …

I
don’t think any of us really can see the potential in us if we would let God
work in and through us.Even the best
Christ follower at times holds back from letting God work on us.I mean we fight those circumstances that are
there to make us in the image He wants for us. You
see as Andy says, “When the two of you are in alignment, there will be
unleashed a whole new dimension of His power in your life. And as you renew
your mind, you will begin to understand and cooperate with God’s purposes for
your life, rather than fighting against them.” And
that is where the potential in us is realized.I mean all that is happening to us and in us
is for our good.We just need to relax
and let Him work.Don’t waist the circumstances
accept and see what He is doing. What
could happen if we would quit fighting Him?

We
have a tendency to think that if I am a Christ-follower then longevity means
maturity.That when I accepted Christ
into my life that I have arrived and that is it but that isn’t true.Oh there may be some things that changed in
that moment but there are other things that come from growth.We grow in our character. Now
I am a 67 year old retired pastor who has found a ministry through writing.I take other people’s thoughts and from my
experience I give my thoughts, I just continue that thought.Now it can come across that I have
arrived.I no longer have a need to
grow, I just need to show.And there is
great spiritual danger there.I have not
yet arrived.I am still going through
the process and I have to constantly live with that fact. And
God is still very faithful to show me where I need growth in …

He
then continues and says, “We tend to change His commands to fit our
personality, our present lifestyle, or our current circumstances.” Now
I read that and thought about some of the stands politically that I read on
Facebook of the things that Christians are up in arms about that in reality go
against the character standard that Christ shares in His Word.And I was ready to use this as an opportunity
to lash out at our inconsistencies but it then hit me of the character stands
He takes on this matter of judging others and that stopped me in my tracks. I
don’t believe that if I am a man of character that I can be judgmental.I can’t and I won’t. But
we must each as individuals determine where we are going to set the standards by
which we live…

He
qualifies that with “For in most cases, our prayers center around the removal
of the very circumstances He is using to conform us to His image.” Somehow
we need to come to grips with the fact that God’s plan and purpose for us is different than ours.You see God is an
investor and He only invests in those things that will last.Our outside will not last.Dust to dust and ashes to ashes but what
lasts is what is inside of us, our spirit, our soul, our character. That is what He invests
in.He wants us to become like Him. I
love the story of the sculptor who was looking at a big piece of granite and
someone asked him what he was going to do with it?And he said that he was going to create a
sculpture of an elephant.And they asked,
“How are you going to do that?”And he
said, “I’m going to chisel off everyt…

I
know from a Christ follower perspective anything with self in it is a
problem.But Andy says, “The way we view
ourselves determines how we will interact with God, family, friends, loved
ones, and even those we consider to be our enemies.”So this is an important relationship in our
life. I
was just walking back from my time of read and I walked past a group of middle
schoolers who were in summer school.And
as I was walking by a young guy was practicing hitting a ball into a floor hockey goal and he missed it by a mile.Now I didn’t look up so he would notice he had missed it because I know
how embarrassed he would have been.I’m
sure he was telling himself that he couldn’t do it maybe because he was a loser
and I felt his pain. And
that is wh…

You
have experienced that haven’t you?Andy
says, “In that moment we become keenly aware of a disparity between God’s
standard and the one we are living out. We are filled with a gnawing sense of
unworthiness, and we feel distanced from Him. We call this feeling guilt.”And that guilt affects my relationship with
God. I know
that God hates pride.I just was at
Whole Foods Market and I put the checker on the spot on something that I thought
she had done wrong.As I was walking out
I had this feeling inside that I had mishandled that.I saw that my pride had reared its ugly head
and that it had the potential to hurt my relationship with God. Now
I could have just ignored the feeling and rationalized that she was trying to
jip me out of some of my money and that I had the right to stand up against
wrong.And I …

Now
to Andy, “Character is the will to do what is right, as defined by God,
regardless of personal cost.”In
reality having character is other’s-oriented.“As we subscribe to God’s absolute standard of right and wrong, we are
directed to focus on the needs of others instead of ourselves.” Here
are some examples that Andy gives.“It’s
that one-in-a-million friend who never says anything negative about you in your
absence. It’s the guy who quickly owns up to his mistakes instead of blaming
others. It’s the woman who is quick to give credit to the person who originated
an idea rather than taking credit herself. It’s the husband who has only
positive things to say about his wife in public. It’s the wife who allows her
husband to lead when everyone knows she is more gifted in that area than her
spouse.”I w…